The Rhineland Exiles and the Religious Landscape of the Dutch Republic, c.1550-1618

Jesse Spohnholz and Mirjam van Veen are co-writing a book that will provide an an overview of Rhineland exile communities and their influence on the religious landscape of the Dutch Republic. Their research combines social and cultural history with the history of ideas to describe how refugees’ experiences shaped their own religious practices and worldviews, how they related to people of other faiths, and what influence they had once they returned to the Dutch Republic. It asks if there were patterns that explain which exiles emerged as advocates of confessional Calvinism and which adopted more inclusive and tolerant approaches.

The the left, Caspar Coolhaes, a Rhineland exile who later emerged as a champion for a broad, inclusive, and undogmatic understanding of religion. To the right, Petrus Datenus, a Rhineland exile who worked for decades promoting Reformed orthodoxy following the model of Calvin’s Geneva.